A Drive Through Bunker Hill and Downtown Los Angeles, ca. 1940s

[migs404]

This movie is just awesome, a real gem... It almost has a dream quality to it. The lack of sound actually adds to the movie for me.

[beatthedwvil88]

a poem is this city now,

50 miles from nowhere,

9:09 in the morning,

the taste of liquor and cigarettes,

no police, no lovers, walking the streets, - Bukowski

[Oldiecoco]

This is amazing footage, I just love the 40's and i'm only 13 going onto 14, we need to bring these times back. Its only a matter of time before these days do come back, what with the new popular "Artist" film inspiring 30's lifestyle, and the new stylish retro cars, and the new musical genre called Electro swing, these times need to come back. The golden days. Ahhh

[wolfgang56]

I love the guy on the sidewalk, waving to the camera.

[popcorn8441]

Wow, what a fantastic video clip! I could easily have watched half an hour of just driving around Los Angeles in the late 1940's. The year must have been 1947, as the only post World War 11 car that I saw was that of a Studebaker, which arrived on the market in late 1946. "First By Far with a Post War Car" was their slogan, and this video proves that. Quiet an experience just to observe old Bunker Hill. Too bad they had to tear it down, as it looked like quite a neat looking neighboorhood.

[MacraStraba]

Another random hotrod at 1:48.

[JIMBOSKI58]

Worked at City Hall 1964-1974 and Pacific Telephone/Pac Bell Hi-Rise crew from 1975-1994. Best video on You Tube for my enjoyment. Thanks a whole lot, really appreciated.

[roadkillontheweb]

Nice traditional rod at 3:22

[8bitretroshit]

I love this

[AlphaIVX]

Simply amazing! Now L.A looks like a dump compared to this lmfao

[dave90046]

Quite amazing. Thanks so much for this =)

[royallen0]

Well done for not sticking some dumb music over this. Has anyone driven and filmed this route recently? Would be interesting to see how it has changed.

[iltubo]

all I could think about while watching this video was "Cole Phelps, badge 1247" :D

[ShamanMahoney]

Bam! I love this shit way too much!~XD

[zrhinier]

I stared with my mouth open & eyes peeled in disbelief.

[MichaMontreal]

FABULOUS! I watched this with another YouTube window open, playing "Hit Parade USA 1942 - Top 10 - DanntaS". Perfect. Thank you SO MUCH for uploading this treasure.

[hondo190]

1080p? What's next, 3D films in WWI?

[Felamine]

@hondo190

1080p transfers are indeed possible from 35mm film, if the print is in good condition.

[creatorofsound80]

This is the cool, interesting side of youtube.

[Tecun85]

This is unbelievable, I'm awed by the sights, the architecture, the people, and the ambiance in this video. It's a miracle that the individuals who knowingly (or unknowingly) made this, had the foresight and sense to document what LA was like 70yrs ago for those of us who came after. We owe these and other preservationists a debt a gratitude for giving us a window into what life looked like in the greatest city in the world in the early part of the 20th century.

[DetroitLove4U]

I wonder what Adolph Hitler thought of Los Angeles?

[Spudforth]

I noticed a sign referencing the Angel Flight, I guess in its second location. Covered over streetcar rails at the end of the film. I guess Ford, GM, and Chrysler had started dismantling the Red Car system by now.

[GocoProductions]

Flawless. Absolutely Flawless. This proves it, film is indeed a time machine. What it must have been like to stroll down the streets of LA in the 1940s. Incredibly crisp and well preserved!

[amateurphilosopher]

It would be interesting to re-shoot this film today, using the exact same route and camera angles, then run them side-by-side.

[BetweentheSticksUSA]

@amateurphilosopher: Unfortunately it would be impossible to do, since Bunker Hill today sits about 100 ft lower than in this film. The Hill was raised to give the skyscrapers that now occupy the area bigger footprints to build upon.

[514570HP]

Great video !!!  It needs the original sound to be perfect.

[JohnnyFriendly]

@krrwasser Everything's relative though.  Back then people were probably complaining about the decline in public standards since 1901 or something

[joraldan]

RCA Television ad at 4.25

[packjim56]

Could somebody tell me the names of the streets in this video. Is it Hill Street?

[cashis1fan]

i didn't know they had 1080p back in the 1920's

[drgwdrgw]

As we're going north, but looking south, on Flower Street, that's the Richfield Building (with the tower on top) on the right (west) side of Flower.

[packjim56]

@drgwdrgw I'm really sorry to pester you. But you seem fairly knowledgeable about this Bunker Hill video. The video starts out on a one way street going up hill, and then immediately makes a left hand turn onto a two way street. Would you happen to know the names of either of those streets? Again, I am only referring to the very beginning of the video.

[drgwdrgw]

@packjim56 ....We're looking east towards 2nd & Olive. This part of 2nd is directly over the 2nd Street Tunnel. If you are standing where the autos are parked you can look down over the tunnel portal and see the intersection of 2nd & Hill. Just as our auto starts moving a northbound streetcar is seen on Broadway. Our vehicle turns south on Grand then west on 5th. While making the right turn onto 5th we see Pacific Telephone Bldg, the Biltmore Hotel, and a bit later, the library.

[packjim56]

@drgwdrgw Thank you very much. I was able to detect certain locations, by googliing I suppositioned (if such a word exists) the 2nd Street and Grand locations, because of the Zelda Apartments landmark, which had famous burglary back in 1941. And that news item pinpointed the location of the incident at 4th and Grand. But I hadn't yet figured out other locations. I'm glad I guess right about 2nd Street.  I don't know Los Angeles very well and was doing all this remotely :)

[jrkelm]

This appears to be stock footage intended to provide background for film production of scenes involving characters driving and riding in cars.

[Craiglaca1]

I see they still had smog back then

[wendileona]

I figured out where they/I was at at 3:23 - PacBell/AT&T Building! Then Biltmore and Central Library! Glad they kept those three. BUT...

At Flower and 5th as they turn back North on Flower at 4:04 and I'm convinced... they improved the area. The sad thing is that the City of LA forgot to modernize the rest of Downtown! They forgot to raze ugly decrepit Downtown, Downtown.. that whole Broadway area, Hill... its still there and it looks like this but worse! Why!?

- G

[WhiteWeasel420]

I notice there's no crack dealers and gang bangers

Oh wait this was LA in the 50's goooottcchhaaaa

[hellomikie92]

@WhiteWeasel420 Gang's has always been around pal.

[WhiteWeasel420]

@hellomikie92 Yup, and back then they had morals and codes of Integrity.

[oldcremona]

Is that a custom hot rod at 3:21 ? The wheels look custom, and it looks lowered. Not something I expected to see in the 1940's.

[pott213]

Thank you for posting this great video of the past.

[matthewreiser]

Few buildings still exist, including:

3:25-3:29 shows part of the AT&T building.

5:43 shows a 4-story building way off in the distance, on the left. That's 1168 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, on the other side of what would be the 110 Freeway, built about 10 years after this video was shot.

[matthewreiser]

Fascinating!! After watching 5x, it appears the camera travels:

West on Second Street

South on Grand Ave

At 2:54, the "318" is at 318 South Grand Ave, 90054

(repeats)

West 5th Street

North on Flower

East on 1st Street

[matthewreiser]

You can see the same building from 3:25-3:29 by viewing Google Street of address 482 South Grand Avenue, CA, 90053. I worked a block from there 1992-1996. Fascinating! I recognized it by the door, windows, and the linchpin: the little hole in the side of the curb at street level. You can see it all by comparing these two

[KateStewartActor]

This is so very cool!

[mrmajestic66]

I live in downtown LA, this is a nice shot located at 2nd Street and Olive.

[dadduorp]

My gawd! For all us LA history buffs this is like stepping into a time machine! It's incomprehensible to see that all of those beautiful Victorian and Craftsman buildings were reduced to dust. As if a nuke bomb obliterated EVERYTHING that's seen in this footage!

Many MANY thanks to the person who uploaded this!

[wendileona]

@dadduorp They were reduced to dust years after this, because they had become decrepit, dirty, old, over-populated and dense and full of crime... what they replaced it with to me, is even more astonishing. They should of razed the rest of Downtown L.A. and made streets of gold and a new L.A., a new Downtown! There still may be a chance... I hope.

- G

[mojeda117]

La Noire was VERY accurate!

I question why downtown seems taller back then...You know, more New York like, why is that?

[sudaev]

That's is one of the greatest things I have ever seen on YouTube.

[jonball52]

@sudaev Agreed! Those magnificent old Victorians! I realize the district was a complete slum by the 1960s when it was cleared, but wouldn't it be great if some of those places were still standing and had been rehabilitated.

[ricadus]

5:57 — Cobblestones!

[rudolfschenker]

hard to believe that virtually everything you see in this film is gone, an entire massive section of downtown wiped off the face of the Earth in the name of redevelopment. A truly gone-forever era of DTLA.

[Prospero510]

Absolutely wonderful to see this! Cannot thank you enough for posting this. It is just criminal that the real Bunker Hill is gone -- and our light rail, too! I think so often about this period, here, and it such a joy to see some little bit of it brought to life like this. Wow!

[dantanasgirl]

remarkable!



[Sweets629]

I'm always In downtown LA and I always wonder what it might have looked back then !!! Wow how times change. That was a great little film !! Thank you